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Avi in India is usually short of names that began with abhi or avi. The former is quite common because there is a Sanskrit prefix (cognate with Latin ob and OHG bi) meaning "towards" or similar meanings. The latter could be a spelling variant, but sometimes combination of the privative a with the prefix vi, meaning "apart" or similar.

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But, of relevance to this thread, the is an old (Rgvedic) root av, to propel or impel, which gives rise to avi. It has a lot of meanings including protector, wall, sheep, wind, mountain, menstruating woman but also sun. Some of these are certainly homonyms coming from a cognate of ewe, or other etyma. The sun could plausibly have come from the impel root though, since the dawn sun as the source of consciousness is a very common theme starting from Rgvedic period.

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So, avi need not be from ravi.

It's a simple error for Ravi, a Hindi word for Sun. The common Indo-European cognate in Hindi is sooraj, and the most closely related languages use Sūrya or something very similar.

This message was edited 12/9/2019, 2:18 AM

While I can't confirm the meaning itself, I did go to school with an Indian kid named Avi. However, it was a shortened form of Avinash. Even if Avi isn't actually an Indian given name, it clearly is being used as a nickname.